


The Truth About Steve Rogers: An Eddie Brock Investigation

by CallicoKitten



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Investigations, Journalism, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 22:55:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21216410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallicoKitten/pseuds/CallicoKitten
Summary: Christine Everhart calls him at 9am on a Sunday morning.-pre-venom eddie takes a job investigating the intriguing connection between steve rogers and the winter soldier. along the way he picks up a parasite and a partner or two.





	The Truth About Steve Rogers: An Eddie Brock Investigation

**Author's Note:**

> so this is about a year late and was written for menatiera for marvel trumps hate.
> 
> i've been super handwavey with both movie timelines, haven't had this betad and this is like the second thing ive written in six months. enjoy!

Christine Everhart calls him at 9am on a Sunday morning.

Normally, Eddie wouldn’t be aware of this fact for _at least_ a few more hours – comes with the whole unemployment thing – but Christine doesn’t just call once. She calls _four _times.

“Come on,” she says, all smooth and self-assured on the other end of the line. “Your name is toxic; you haven’t reported on anything in _months_ and I’m betting the bills are starting to pile up.”

Eddie groans into his pillow. “Can’t you do this yourself? It’s not like you don’t have the resources.”

Christine makes this little noise – sort of sigh, sort of a huff. They’re not friends exactly. Him and Christine. Their viewpoints and politics wildly differ but they go way back, they’ve got history.

“Oh, you already tried?”

“I was _politely_ told to drop it.”

“And you listened?”

“Yes, Eddie. That’s why_ I_ still have a job.”

“Uh, you were calling me absurdly early to ask for a favour, right?”

She sighs. “I’m not going to apologise, Eddie. All I did was state the facts. Now, are you in, or not?”

Eddie rubs a hand across his face. “Well, I’m not really in a position to say no.”

“Excellent. I’ll send over what I’ve got right away.”

As soon as the call clicks off, Eddie lets his phone drop onto the bed and pulls the covers up over his head.

-

Two cups of coffee and a moderately sensible breakfast later, Eddie’s reading through the stuff Christine sent over. It’s pretty sparse. A few grainy images, some heavily redacted reports and reams and reams of Christine’s notes.

And Eddie has to admit, she might be on to something.

The crux of it is this: Captain America, one Steven Grant Rogers, formerly of New York and currently of DC by way of Hyrda – sorry _SHIELD’s_ – freezer is hiding something. Something big. Bigger than going rogue over Sokovia, bigger than how he keeps his hair so perfect or whether Tony Stark really does sleep in piles and piles of money and it has everything to do with the Winter Soldier.

Officially, the Soldier doesn’t exist. He’s a rumour. A ghost story. Something made up on the bowels of the internet, by conspiracy theorists on reddit and 4chan to explain the Kennedy assassination, 9/11 and everything in between.

Unofficially, everyone’s seen the footage from 2014 – from before Hydra was revealed, which Eddie called by the way – everyone’s seen him shooting up the streets, brawling with Cap. For a while Eddie was on his tail, trying to tease out the facts from fiction but things got kind of weird. Men following him home with poorly concealed weapons, kind of weird. And with Anne and a cat to keep safe and happy, Eddie dropped it. Not that anyone seems to remember that these days.

Anyway. The Winter Soldier. Captain America.

There are several reports of the Solider dragging Cap out of the water surrounding the Triskellion. A few of the Soldier being present at that shit show at the airport a few years back.

Now that Eddie thinks about it, it’s kind of ridiculous no one put this together sooner. It makes a perfect kind of sense. SHIELD being Hydra. Cap and the Solider. Maybe there never was a Captain America. Maybe he’s the fiction. Maybe no one wanted to look too closely at any of it.

“Thank you, Ms Everhart,” he says quietly as he pulls up his old research.

It’s not much, but it’s something.

-

By the end of the day, Eddie’s drawn up a list of his top hypotheses:

  1. Captain America is and always has been part of Hydra. This is the most cut and dry possibility. Explains the links between Cap and the Soldier. Explains the whole superhero civil war a hell of a lot more satisfactorily. Would be enough to put Eddie back on track if he can prove it. Hell, it’d catapult Eddie out of his kind of niche audience to fame worldwide.
  2. The Winter Soldier is – or _was _– someone important to Cap. This is slightly less cut and dry since it relies on there being not one, but _two _men from the 1940’s still running around but also, aliens exist, so. It could also conceivably work alongside possibility one.
  3. Captain America is really just such a genuinely nice guy he’s decided to save the Winter Soldier from himself and fuck everyone else, or something? Honestly, there’s a part of Eddie that wants this to be true. The part that grew up reading Cap comics before he realised it was all bullshit.

He starts at the start. Or, as _at the start _as he can when it comes to Captain America – which is to say he picks through a handful of the least controversial biographies before getting bored and moving on to the somewhat less well accepted. And there are _tonnes. _There are the ones where Steve Rogers is a radical, there are the ones where Steve Rogers is a symbol, there are the ones where Steve Rogers is actually an alien, sent to Earth to pave the way for an eventual invasion.

It’s dark again before he realises it, 3am to be precise.

He’s almost out of coffee but the SHIELD info dump from a few years back is calling his name. He read through it all at them time, of course, but back then he wasn’t looking for this. It occurs to him as the suns coming up that maybe this isn’t the best idea. Maybe digging around for dirt on a national hero will make him a few more enemies, or more.

But it’s a job.

It’s a story.

And he’s going to tell it.

-

“I’m sorry? You’re what?” Anne says, when he accidentally on purpose runs into her at their old coffee spot and tells her what he’s doing. Dan is hovering behind her, looking awkward and competently handsome. He keeps doing this fake little half-smile whenever Eddie makes eye contact. The kind of shit you do to a kid you’re forced to hang out with and would really prefer not to. Like _hey, buddy!!! Way to go! Keep doing what you’re doing!_

“I thought you’d be happy,” Eddie says, tries to keep his voice a normal level. “I mean, I’m working again and – ”

“Eddie, Eddie, I _am_ happy you’re working again but this – _this _isn’t going to make you any friends.”

“Its not about that, Anne, I don’t _care _about that. I care about the story.”

He knows the words are wrong as soon as they’re out of his mouth. Her face doesn’t crumple, sort of just shuts down. Her eyes shutter. Her mouth goes hard, firm. Behind her, Dan must sense this because he draws closer, brushes his hand against hers.

_I know, Eddie, _is what he thinks she wants to say. _That’s always been your problem._

But this isn’t some stupid cliché movie and Anne’s not like that so instead she says, “Okay, well good luck with that.”

And the two of them leave.

-

The trouble is, there’s a lot out there on Steve Rogers. It’s easy enough to find out where he was born, where he grew up, where he went to school. Copies of his birth certificate and school records are readily available online. There are interviews with everyone from former neighbours to soldiers who shook his hand once in a muddy field somewhere in Europe, SHIELD agents present at the Triskellion to random bystanders in Avengers conflicts. Eddie goes through as many as he can.

They fall into one of two categories; Steve Rogers is either the nice, polite Brooklyn boy the stories make him out to be or he’s not at all like that. He’s cool, he’s smooth, he’s well put together but there’s something simmering there beneath the surface, something he keeps hidden very well.

Then there’s what he can pick out of the SHIELD info. Everything is coded, of course. Code names, vaguely disguised purposes, locations. What’s really interesting is the amount of time it seems like Cap spends AWOL. The files aren’t that detailed so Eddie goes searching, comes up with an ex-SHIELD Intelligence Officer with a chip on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he says, over a shitty phoneline. “We had people on him all the time. No one upstairs really trusted him but that didn’t matter. He did what they wanted, when they wanted. Mostly, anyway. Outside of that he had his own shit but so what? All the Avengers did. Their only job was showing up when they were needed.”

“Any idea where he was going though? If there were people on him, they must have known.”

The guy sighs. “Sorry, Brock. A little above my pay grade. What I can tell you is that is that before the Winter Soldier showed up, Rogers hardly left his apartment. Afterwards, it was a whole different ballgame.”

Eddie hums, scrawls down some notes. “So, what did you think it was?”

“You’re asking me?” The guy scoffs.

“Why not? You must have an opinion. Everyone seems to.”

The line goes quiet for a moment. Then the guy sighs, “Look, I just think he’s a little too good to be true, you know? It all seems pretty convenient, doesn’t it? I mean, the guys on ice for years, gets defrosted just in time to save the world and then this Soldier shows up and the agency that regulates Cap’s activities gets dismantled? I dunno, man. It just seems odd.”

-

He learns pretty quickly that the Winter Soldier is probably James Buchanan Barnes. This, of course, is pretty common speculation on the internet but by rattling some cages, Eddie has proof.

“This better not get back to me,” his contact says, glancing around nervously. “I’m serious. I won’t just lose my job. I could be, like arrested. This is _treason._”

“Well, that’s a little dramatic,” Eddie says, keeping his tone light, aiming for comfort. His contact doesn’t bite, narrows her eyes.

“It’s SHIELD. If they want to destroy me, they will.”

She hands him an envelope of medical records.

“He’s in Wakanda. Rogers thinks we don’t know but we’ve got people there.”

“And _everywhere_, apparently,” Eddie smirks. His contact flinches and Eddie tilts his head. “If you’re so scared why’re you doing this?”

Her arms are folded across her chest protectively. She shrugs, one shouldered. “I just – It’s not _right. _If he did _half _of what they say he did… He shouldn’t be walking around and Captain Rogers definitely shouldn’t be defending him. I don’t know.”

“You’re a saint,” Eddie says, handing her the cash. “But seriously, don’t worry, nothing will come back to you. Your name will never be uttered by me, or anyone else.”

Back at home, he thumbs through the records. James Barnes apparently went through hell. The same kind of enhancement that Steve Rogers underwent followed by years of torture. It’s rough reading and while it doesn’t give him much in the way of Captain America’s dirty little secret, it sets his mind alight with possibilities.

“That’s good,” Christine says, when he touches base with her. “Interesting.” Her voice has that far-away tone to it that says she’s thinking too, untangling and re-knotting the threads they’ve gathered together.

“It makes sense, I guess,” Eddie says. He runs a hand through his hair and it comes back greasy. He saw Anne a few days ago at the store and she said he looked tired, not in a mean way, in a way accompanied by a worried frown, a gentle hand on his arm. He used to do this. Lose himself in stories. “Gives Cap motive to go to bat for him, at least.”

Christine hums. “I mean, sure, maybe but just _think _about it, Eddie. This wasn’t just picking one friend over the other. He committed _treason _and dragged half the Avengers down with him. They wouldn’t about James Barnes but they followed him regardless. There _has _to be more.”

-

In retrospect, driving down to the Avengers campus in DC was a bad idea born of too little sleep and too many energy drinks. Steve Rogers hasn’t lived here for over a year now and it’s not like anyone on the other side of the razor-wire topped fence would be willing to talk to him but there was always a shot. Cleaning staff, security, the local paparazzi.

He comes up empty, finds himself edging around the perimeter with an iced mocha that is honestly mostly water at this point. He’s not exactly looking to break in, that would be _beyond _stupid, but he’s trying to get more of a handle on Steve Rogers. He’s spent a lot of his life behind fences like this, army camps, compounds. Eddie doesn’t know if Steve thinks of them as home, doesn’t know how anyone could, but it’s as close he can get right now.

He finds James Rhodes leaning against his car when he comes back to it. Eddie has a story ready – a camera slung around his neck, ID from a trashy tabloid. He was just here looking for candids, trying to snap anything he could of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But he can tell from Rhodes’ expression that his cover won’t work. Rhodes knows who he is.

“Eddie Brock,” Rhodes says, pushing off Eddie’s car. He’s wearing his Warmachine suit, Eddie’s trying and failing not to look intimidating. Rhodes seems to find this amusing. “Oh, don’t worry,” he says. “This isn’t for you. Unless you give me a reason, that is.”

“I won’t give you a reason, sir,” Eddie says, all in a rush. He doesn’t mean to. It just sort of slips out.

Rhodes coughs. “Smooth, man.” He folds his arms. “Look, I hear you’re digging around on our old pal Steve Rogers and I’ve been told to politely ask you to stop.”

Eddie almost laughs. “I’m sorry?”

“Oh, you’ve got no idea. You’re lucky they didn’t send Widow out here.”

“Are you seriously threatening me?” God, Eddie would give anything for a hidden camera right now. He’s got a mic on, of course, but audio can only convey so much.

“No, like I said, this is a polite request. Just leave it alone, Brock. You’ve been warned.”

He steps back and takes off, soars off back into the compound and Eddie stares after him. He figured there’d be people who wouldn’t want this – _whatever _this is – to get out, he just didn’t figure on getting push back from the actual Avengers.

-

“I mean, maybe that_ is_ it,” Dan says. He’s leaning pretty heavily across the table, his eyes slightly glassy, his words starting to slur. Eddie bites back his scoff. _Lightweight. _“It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that, does it? They were _best friends._”

Eddie swallows his laughter; Anne is not so kind. “Awh, _Dan_. You’re such a softie.” She reaches across the table to grasp his hand and he grins at her, all dopey and drunk and in love. Anne looks at Eddie and rolls her eyes.

It all feels disturbingly_ comfortable_ for an accidental gate-crashing. Which it actually _is _this time. Anne might have got his dignity, the apartment and his will to live in the breakup but she doesn’t hold a monopoly on their old favourite restaurants. And besides, it wasn’t Eddie’s idea to join them. It was Dan’s when he decided Eddie looked like he hadn’t eaten a decent meal in a week.

Since they’re paying, Eddie orders another beer.

“No, it goes deeper than that,” he says. “I can feel it. Somethings not right. They’re hiding something and they’re going to a lot of trouble to do it.”

Anne frowns. “If that’s true maybe you shouldn’t be doing this.”

Eddie waves her off. “It’s fine, Annie. I’m being careful, right? I’m _always_ careful.”

That stings, she sighs – exhales so heavily that even halfway to truly drunk, Dan sits up a bit and leans closer to her, “Okay, hon?”

Anne ignores him, keeps her gaze on Eddie. “No, Eddie. You’re careful up to the point where you think you’ve figured it out. After that, you don’t care who you hurt.”

“Anne – ” he says but she shakes her head, turns to Dan.

“We should go.”

Dan nods solemnly.

Eddie takes their leftovers home with him.

-

His next lead comes from the grandkid of a guy who served with Barnes and Rogers in the war. Of course, this means he has no real way of verifying whether any of its true but he’s hoping it’ll give him something, point him somewhere. He gets a tape in the mail, a handwritten note from the kid that says, _I was looking into to this too but life got in the way. I recorded this with my grandad before he passed. Hope it helps._

The recording is scratchy, dated.

“I was with Barnes in basic, we signed up around the same time, both Brooklyn boys, you know. He was a good guy. Calm. Dedicated. The kind of guy you wanted on your side when shit hit the fan, you know? He talked about Rogers a lot but the Rogers he talked about and the Rogers we ended up meeting were two very different people.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. They pumped him full of god knows what to make him that way, slapped on the stars and stripes but I don’t know. The things Rogers used to talk about – they weren’t _American_, you know? Not American ideals.”

Eddie clicks the tape off.

He gets it, he does. People now have a problem with the values Steve Rogers stands for, things like equality and justice and _socialism. _People back then must have _hated _it.

But a source is a source.

He hits play.

“Grandad – ” says another voice, soft, scolding.

“Alright, alright! I know that’s not what you want to hear but you asked for my story. I’m telling it. Now, anyway, where was I? Right. Rogers. So he shows up, marches off, saves Barnes and the rest of who’d become the Howling Commandos. Things were different after that. Everything was hush-hush and Barnes was – Barnes was different. Sure, it could have been whatever the hell they were doing to him in that POW camp but I always thought it went deeper somehow.”

-

“So, your current theory is Steve Rogers is the secret agent of some shady government agency that he sold out his best friend too so they could – what?” Annie tilts her head at him, her smile is fond. It’s the sixth time they’ve accidentally run into each other at the Chinese. A few more and they might have to accept this is a _thing. _

Dan nods, mouth full of noodles. “I’ve gotta say, man, I’m with her on this. That’s a pretty weak theory.”

“It’s not _my _theory,” Eddie corrects. “It’s just where the evidence is pointing.” And it is. He’s found more. Interviews, documents. All of them prove Steve Rogers is hiding something, hiding Barnes, hiding everything he’s done. The triggers he’s pulled, the people he’s disappeared. Put all together, lined up neatly, they don’t paint a pretty picture.

“Okay,” Annie says, “Okay. So why? Why do all of this? Power? Money?”

“Influence?” Eddie guesses. It’s the only thing he can really think of. Rogers doesn’t seem to really care about the money, the fame but hell, he could be hiding it real well. It wouldn’t be all that surprising. “Look, I don’t know, all I _do _know is that there’s a man out there most people would trust with their lives protecting a man – an _organisation – _that’s killed hundreds.”

She sits back, considering. Beside her, Dan shakes his head. “I still don’t think that’s right. Cap’s just a good guy, Brock. He’s looking out for his friend.”

Annie joins Eddie in his groan.

“Come _on_, Dan.”

Dan shrugs, grins at the both of them.

“Maybe we should put money on it,” Eddie suggests.

“I’m not that drunk,” Dan says.

Annie smirks at him, “_Yet_.”

He ends up walking them home. It’s a nice night, Annie is flushed and happy, Dan is just this side of clumsy. Eddie feels all kinds of warm, all kinds of fuzzy and it’s weird and slightly wrong but he’s not about to question it. Not about to look to closely at this whole mess in case he spooks himself and runs a mile.

In their doorway, Dan hugs him tight, says, “See you next time, Eddie.” He stumbles off into the hallway and Annie watches him go, forehead slightly creased as she listens in case he stumbles. Once she’s satisfied, she turns back to Eddie, smiles.

“Yeah, see you next time, unless Captain America gets to you first.” She hugs him too, curls a hand into the front of his ratty sweater, like she used to, like she did before. “Why are you so against Dan’s theory?” she asks, voice muffled against his shoulder. “Is it _so _hard to believe someone would give up so much for the person they loved?”

“Well, that’s just not a very interesting story, Annie.”

She smiles at him again, sadly this time. “Goodnight, Eddie.”

He gets home to a message from someone called Dora Skirth. It somewhat side-tracks his investigation.

-

A month or so later, Christine Everhart calls him on a Sunday morning.

Eddie pads out of the bedroom and downstairs to take it in the kitchen, sets about making coffee. Mr Belvedere follows him and hops up onto the counter to glower meaningfully at his empty food dish.

“You owe me a story, Eddie,” Christine reminds him. “I get that you’ve been busy lately and nice job with Carlton Drake but I’m starting to get impatient.”

_She’s bossy, _Venom says. _I’m not sure I like that. **I **get to boss you about. Who is she?_

Eddie shakes his head, shakes Venom off. He hasn’t even thought about Steve Rogers and his secret lately but now he is, he can’t believe he forgot. “It’s coming,” he says. “I promise.”

Christine hums. “It better. I’m putting a lot of faith in you, you know.”

_She does not know what a loser you are, then, _Venom snickers.

Eddie sighs. Leans against the counter as he waits for the coffee to brew. Mr Belvedere hopes down, tail raised in greeting to someone and Eddie turns to find Dan coming down the stairs. His steps falter a little when he sees Eddie, his cheeks flush a little.

“Sorry,” Eddie says and if Dan’s cheeks are pink, his must be scarlet. “This is weird, isn’t it? I know this is weird. Knew it would be weird.”

Venom sighs, the sound is loud in Eddie’s ears but Dan’s smile is kind, gentle.

“No, it’s not weird,” he promises, joining Eddie against the counter. “Just new. Was that work?”

Eddie nods, face still hot. He turns away to pour the coffee.

“Back to busting Captain America, huh?” Dan says, as Eddie hands him a cup. “Annie says she never knew if she should wish you luck with your stories. I think I get that now. This is good coffee, Eddie. Thanks!”

_He’s cute, _Venom rumbles. _We should keep him too. _

-

Annie has sent him twelve text messages and called him twice. The messages range from _this is dangerous you’re a fucking idiot eddie brock you’re just about to blow your life up again _to _you know what don’t come crying to me. _In comparison, Dan has sent one saying _annie wants me to keep the first aid kit on stand by and for me to tell you this is stupid. Which it is but you’re an adult and if you don’t know better by now, I can’t really help you. _

_They’re right, you know, _Venom says, on the drive up. _This **is **stupid. _

Venom doesn’t like Eddie’s job. Hasn’t shut up about it for over a week.

_Not your job. **This **job. _

“I told you, I’m doing this for a friend. I owe her, okay?”

_You owe her nothing._

“Debatable.”

** _Not _ ** _debatable._

“Look, I don’t complain about how you conduct your business so – ”

_That is not even **remotely **true. _

“We’ve talked about why you shouldn’t eat people!”

** _You_ ** _ talked._

It goes on like that. On and on. Eddie thinks maybe Venom’s just jealous. This past month has been about them almost exclusively but now he’s back on Rogers, he’s got less mental bandwidth to expend. He’ll be done with it soon. It’s coming up to the big finish. He’s got almost everything he needs. He’s got people willing to talk. He’s got evidence. Heavily _redacted _evidence but put all together, they tell a story nonetheless.

It all comes back to Hydra. Or, someone Hydra _adjacent_, at least. At some point, Steve Rogers was taken in, or went willingly, or maybe they built him from the ground up. Shaped and formed him into the perfect man, the perfect soldier. The perfect agent to win the people, to divide the Avengers, to sow chaos and pave the way for a takeover.

It sounds stupid. Outlandish, he knows. Annie’s told him. Dan’s told him. But it’s where the evidence points.

For them, he’s giving Steve Rogers a chance to explain. Not the same way he used to with a video camera shoved in his mark’s face. This will be quieter. The video camera will be hidden. It’s taken a lot to get a lead on Rogers’ location, he’s not going to fuck it up now.

** _Who _ ** _got the lead?_

“I’ve thanked you for that.”

Venom huffs.

The compound is way out in Arizona. As far as Eddie can tell, it was never used by SHIELD. It’s an old SSR base, decommissioned in the 50s after an experiment went wrong but lately there’s been some activity. Not planes sighted or strange vehicles on the road, just power usage but it’d been enough to pique his interest.

He parks a few miles away at a diner, talks to owners about taking a hike around the area as a cover. Once they’re out of sight, Venom rumbles, _I’ll take it from here, shall?_ And Eddie feels himself being dragged under, feels Venom’s exhilaration course through him as they bound across the barren landscape.

-

Steve Rogers doesn’t look particularly surprised when Eddie steps in front of him as he jogs.

“Eddie Brock, right?” he says, after a moment of looking him up and down. “You had a show. I never really got ‘round to it but it was recommended by a friend.”

He sounds so nonplussed. Like it’s completely expected that an out of work journalist could stumble upon his super-secret hideout.

_This is a **waste **of time. _

“That’s right. So, you know what it’s about, then? My show?”

Rogers smiles. The kind of charming grin that’s meant to deflect. “I do. And I heard from a friend – a _different _friend – that you were looking into me.” He folds his arms, “So, I’m intrigued. What exactly do you have on me?”

_Nothing. _

“Quiet,” Eddie hisses.

Rogers tilts his head. “What was that?”

“I said; the usual, Mr Rogers. Files, witness testimony, surveillance footage, photographs. All of which point to you being more than you let on.”

Rogers is waiting, expectant.

“The Winter Soldier,” Eddie starts and_ that_ gets a reaction. Rogers’ jaw tightens almost imperceptibly. His gaze shutters somewhat. He looks back, briefly, to the main building of the compound. It’s not far from them. Eddie wonders if he’s trying to figure out how quickly he could get there if he needed to, if he’s suddenly worried Eddie didn’t come along, if he and Barnes and Sam Wilson and Wanda Maximoff and whoever else they’ve got in there is about to be dragged out in handcuffs.

Rogers’ gaze flicks back to him, defensive now. “What about him?”

“Were you in on it the whole time? The experimentation? The brainwashing? Did you know about it?”

“_What_?” Rogers asks frowning. Then he stops, smiles slightly. “Oh,” he says. “Oh.”

He’s going to try and deflect, Eddie thinks. Charm him. Tell him some story and then grin and –

Venom sighs. _Are all humans this dense? _

“You think I’m part of Hydra.” Rogers says. “Can’t say I haven’t heard that before.”

“And you’re about to tell me you’re not, right? Do you have proof of that, Mr Rogers?”

Rogers shakes his head. “I’m not sure proof would work for you, Mr Brock. It hasn’t seemed to work on anyone before so – ”

The main compound swings open and Rogers breaks off to look. Eddie tenses, Venom rippling just beneath his skin, ready to take over if need be.

The Winter Soldier steps out into the bright of the day, grimacing against it. His metal arm is missing, he raises his other to shield his eyes. “Bird-boy wanted me to check on you, Stevie,” he calls.

And it’s in the way Rogers looks at him. The softness. The relief, though they can only have been apart a few minutes. And something fierce. Something that could burn down cities, topple governments and international agencies. Something worth tearing apart the world for.

_Told you, _Venom says, sounding smug.

“I’m fine, Buck, go back inside.”

Barnes looks uncertain, eyes Eddie warily.

“Really, Buck. Go. I’m almost done here.”

Barnes sets his jaw but he listens to Rogers.

“Look, Mr Brock,” Rogers says, turning back to face him. “You tell whatever story you think you have to. I’m sure it won’t make me anymore enemies than I already have. I take it you can show yourself out?”

Eddie nods. He feels faintly shell-shocked. There’s a ringing in his ears or maybe that’s just Venom laughing. He nods, mutely and Steve Rogers walks away.

“Don’t you say a word,” Eddie says, when they’re back in the car.

_I wouldn’t **dream **of it, _Venom sneers. _Idiot. _

-

“It didn’t pan out,” he says to Christine when she phones for the last time on a Sunday morning.

Beside him, Annie shifts and reaches out to thump him on the arm, hisses, _shh. _On her other side, Dan is fast asleep, worked a double two nights in a row.

Christine is scoffing, sputtering. “That’s not – How? You had so much!”

“Yeah, look, I’m sorry, alright? But, like I said, it just didn’t pan out. None of it held water. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

She’s sputtering again but Eddie hangs up. Sets his phone down on the nightstand.

Annie is smirking at him. “I thought you were _putting it on the backburner to focus on rebuilding your brand_,” she says, in an appalling parody of Eddie’s voice.

_Actually, I think it was pretty accurate. _

“I am,” Eddie says, stuffily.

Annie hums. “You keep forgetting I know all your tells.” She moves so she’s leaning on his chest, drops a hand to trace one of his tattoos lazily. “So, it didn’t go well in Arizona? Was I right? Was _Dan _right?”

Eddie says nothing but apparently, Annie _does _know all his tells.

“_Dan _was right!” She says, as loudly as she dares. She glances back at him, smiling proudly. “He’ll be so thrilled when I tell him.”

“Yeah, if you could maybe not, that would be _great_,” Eddie says.

Annie leans up to kiss him. “Oh, I’m _definitely _telling him.”


End file.
